I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Mickalene Thomas: All About Love— the first major international tour focused on her work (paintings, collage, photography, video, and site-specific installations) — is at the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to January 20th.
YOUR WEEKEND READ #1 is this Thread Reader essay by Jason Wilson on a New York magazine profile of right-wing activist Chris Rufo… that left out some of his white nationalist friends.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Blanco the Cat - a North Carolina kitteh whose family was horrified to see him float away (on a roof) during the flooding from Helene ... yet miraculously was found alive eight days later.
YOUR WEEKEND READS #2and #3… first, if 45 prevails: a dystopianessay from Olivia Troye, Letter from 2026— from a Gitmo prisoner (to her friend) wondering how it all happened — and (on a more positive note) this essay in Salon from Amanda Marcotte, suggesting that — in addition to the preparation from Democrats, a Democrat in the White House as well as enhanced safeguards: 45’s obvious mental decline will make it more difficult to stage an effective coup.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Church the Hero Cat— an Oregon kitteh who alerted her family to a house fire, enabling them to escape … but alas, is believed to have perished in the fire.
BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz.
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN TONIGHT—
SEPARATED at BIRTH— two Florida men: Philip Esformes, granted clemency by Trump (now arrested for domestic violence) and former GOP congressman (and now MSNBC analyst) David Jolly.
...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… in the same month that John Lennon made his controversial/misunderstood remarks about The Beatles being more popular than Jesus (March, 1966) — which caused much consternation in Middle America (with record burning gatherings) — an album release of instrumental covers by them was released by none other … than the country music giant Chet Atkins— and he and the band had a mutual admiration society.
It began with George Harrison ... who admired Atkins so much that in 1963 he bought a signature model guitar that the Gretsch company made for Atkins: the Country Gentleman, which he used on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Chet Atkins’ playing remained an influence on Harrison over the years.
While indelibly associated with country music: Chet Atkins saw himself as a musician first and was eager to expand the reach of Nashville, with collaborations from the Boston Pops Orchestra to Mark Knopfler. In 1966, he took some risk by signing a Black performer (Charley Pride).
Indeed, Chet Atkins as head of RCA Victor in Nashville helped develop the Nashville Sound— with a de-emphasis on the pedal steel and fiddle and more string arrangements — and left a few thinking he was doing harm to country music by going more pop oriented. By the early 1980’s, he wanted to branch-out musically as a performer — and had to leave RCA Victor for Columbia in order to record some jazz dates (I recall one session with George Benson).
The album I mentioned was titled Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles— with songs such as If I Fell, Things We Said Today, A Hard Day’s Night and nine others. The songs may sound simplistic here (recorded by Nashville veterans) yet it brought the Beatles music to a different audience … perhaps, now ready to listen to them.
Another feature of the album cover … having George Harrison liner notes:
I have appreciated Chet Atkins as a musician since long before the tracks on this album were written; in fact, since I was the ripe young age of seventeen. Since then I have lost count of the number of Chet’s albums I have acquired, but I have not been disappointed with any of them.
For me, the great thing about Mr. Atkins is not the fact that he is capable of playing almost every type of music but the conviction in the way he does it.
Whilst listening to CHET ATKINS PICKS ON THE BEATLES I got the feeling that these songs had been written specially with Chet in mind. The fact that they were not … prove his eminence as an artist - the perfect example being ‘Yesterday’. Chet, by himself, gets far more out of this than some of the people known as ‘class’ singers do with a full orchestral arrangement to boot!
‘I’ll Cry Instead’, 'She’s A Woman’ and 'Can’t Buy Me Love’, having a country feeling about them, lend themselves perfectly to Chet’s own style of picking, which has inspired so many guitarists throughout the world (myself included, but I didn’t have enough fingers at the time).
All the other tracks have Chet adding harmonies and harmonics in the least expected places, bringing out that crystal-clear sound of the guitar to his audience’s benefit.
One thing remains very clear to me at the end of this LP, and that is why this sleeve note must end here. Chet Atkins did not get to be a great guitarist by writing sleeve notes, but by years of devoted practice on the instrument he so obviously loves.
All twelve tracks are on YouTube at this link— my favorite is the opening song: